Jesus, having approached, went with them. For, having a body already spiritual and most Divine, He found no hindrance in distance of places to being with those with whom He wished. Therefore also the bodily features with which the Savior then appeared did not allow them to recognize Him. For He appeared to them, as Mark says (Mk. 16:12), "in another form" and with different features. He disposed of His body no longer according to the laws of nature, but supernaturally and spiritually. For this reason their eyes were held back so that they did not recognize Him. But why did He appear in another form, and why were their eyes held back? So that they might disclose all their perplexities, reveal their wound, and then receive the remedy; so that after a long interval He might appear to them more pleasant; so that He might teach them from Moses and the prophets, and only then be recognized; so that they might better believe that His body was no longer such as could be seen by all in general, but that although the very same body that had suffered had risen, it is visible only to those to whom He grants it; so that they might gain from this that great benefit of no longer wavering in their perplexities (concerning, for example) why He no longer goes about among the people, but would reflect within themselves that His manner of life after the resurrection differs greatly from the ordinary — not human, but most Divine — so that it serves as a figure of the future resurrection as well, in which we shall live as Angels and sons of God. So then, this is why their eyes were held back and they did not recognize Him. For He became visible to those for whom He wished.
Lk. 24:17. He said to them: What is this that you are discussing with one another as you walk, and why are you sad?
Lk. 24:18. One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him: Are You the only one among those who have come to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened in it in these days?
Cleopas makes a reproach to the Lord, who appears in the form of a fellow traveler, and says: "Are you the only one of those who have come," that is, are you the only one of the inhabitants of Jerusalem who does not know what has happened? Others, however, understood the words "of those who have come" ("are you a stranger") in this way: are you the only stranger who lives outside Jerusalem, and are so indifferent to what is happening in it that you do not know about this?
Lk. 24:19. And He said to them: about what? They said to Him: about what happened with Jesus of Nazareth, Who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;
See then what a very limited understanding they still had of the Lord. They called Him a man, "a prophet," as one might call Elijah, Joshua the son of Nun, or Moses; "mighty in deed and word": first deed, then word. For no word of a teacher is firm if the teacher does not first show himself to be a doer of it. So be mighty in deed first, then strive to have the word as well. Then God too will assist you. For first comes action, and then contemplation and illumination. If you do not clean the mirror with labor and sweat, you will not see the desired beauty. For "blessed are the pure in heart," and this is achieved through deeds, "for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8), and this is the end of contemplation. One must be mighty in deed and word "before God," and then before "all the people." For one must please God first, and then strive to be, as far as possible, blameless before people as well. One must neither prefer people-pleasing to pleasing God, nor live as a stumbling block to many, but care for both, as the wise man also says: have regard for good things before God and men. And Paul says the same (2 Cor. 8:21).
Lk. 24:20. How our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death and crucified Him.
Lk. 24:21. But we had hoped that He is the One Who should redeem Israel;
As if deceived in their hopes, they speak thus: we hoped that He would save others too, but He did not even save Himself. So faint-hearted and slow to believe were they! Their words resemble what those standing at the cross also said: "He saved others; He cannot save Himself" (Mk. 15:31). Therefore the Lord also calls them foolish and slow to believe. What do the words "to redeem Israel" mean? We have said before that the Jewish people, and especially the less discerning among them, expected in Christ a savior and deliverer from the evils oppressing them and from the yoke of Roman slavery, and they hoped that He would reign on earth. Therefore they also say: we hoped that He would deliver Israel from the Gentiles — the Romans — but He Himself did not even escape the unjust sentence passed upon Him.
Lk. 24:21. But with all that, it is now already the third day since this happened.
Lk. 24:22. But certain women also of our company astonished us: they were early at the tomb
Lk. 24:23. And they did not find His body, and when they came, they reported that they had also seen a vision of Angels, who say that He is alive.
"Already the third day now,... and certain women from among us astonished us" and so forth. They say this in a state of perplexity. It seems to me that these two men were in great vacillation of thought, neither too disbelieving nor too believing. For the words "we had hoped that He would redeem Israel" reveal unbelief; while the words "already the third day now" show that the people were already close to recalling the words of the Lord: "on the third day I will rise again" (Matt. 16:21, Mark 8:31, Luke 9:22, Luke 24:7). And the words "astonished us" reveal something similar, that is, the wavering of their unbelief. Taken together, however, these words truly belong to people who are in great doubt, since these people were brought into a state of perplexity and difficulty by the extraordinariness of the resurrection.
Lk. 24:24. And some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see.
"And some of our people went," they say, that is, either Peter alone, or Peter and John. And from this it is evident that what some relate at length, others mention briefly and in passing, since John narrates more extensively about Peter and John going to the tomb (John 20:2–8), while this one (Luke), having mentioned a few, omitted their names.
Lk. 24:25. Then He said to them: O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
Since they were thinking in human terms and suffered from great doubt, the Lord calls them "foolish and slow" to believe all that "the prophets had foretold." For it is possible to believe in part and to believe wholly. For example, whoever hopes that Christ will come for the salvation of the people, yet not for the salvation of souls, but for the restoration and deliverance of the Jewish nation, that person does not believe as much as one ought to believe. Likewise, whoever believes the words of David, "They pierced my hands and my feet" (Ps. 21:17), and the other words concerning the cross and the circumstances on the cross, as a prophecy spoken in the person of the Lord, and accepts the passages of Scripture about the suffering, but does not take into consideration the passages about the resurrection, such as, for example, these: "You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption" (Ps. 15:10), "among the dead" (Ps. 87:6), "He releases the prisoners from their bonds" (Ps. 67:7), and similar ones — that person has a faith that is not perfect, but believes only in part.
Lk. 24:26. Not so? Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer and to enter into His glory?
But one must believe the prophets in all things, both regarding the state of humiliation and regarding the state of glory. For Christ had to suffer — this is the humiliation. But He also had to enter into His glory — this is the glorification. Yet you are so foolish that, hearing Isaiah speak of both states, namely: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter" and "the Lord desires to show Him light" (Isa. 53:7, 11), you accept the first but do not consider the second: you believe that He "was wounded," but that "the Lord desires to cleanse Him of His wound" (Isa. 53:5, 10), you do not even take to mind.
Lk. 24:27. Starting from Moses and from all the prophets, He explained to them the things said about Him in all the Scriptures.
But since, He says, you are "foolish," that is, "slow" (for if they were truly foolish, He would not have said anything to them at all), since you are slow, I will open your mind and make it quick in understanding. Therefore He explained to them from Moses and from all the prophets the things said concerning Him. The mystery of Abraham's sacrifice, when he, leaving Isaac alive, offered a ram as a burnt offering, served as a prefiguration concerning the Lord, as the Lord Himself says that "Abraham saw" His "day and rejoiced" (John 8:56). And this passage: "your life shall hang before you" (Deut. 28:66) points at one and the same time both to the crucifixion by the word "hang" and to the resurrection by the word "life." Scattered throughout the rest of the prophecies are sayings about the cross and the resurrection, especially among the most important prophets. Such passages can be gathered from them as well. Note, if you will, also this: that entrance into glory depends on the endurance of sufferings.
Lk. 24:28. And they drew near to the village where they were going; and He made as though He would go further.
The Lord "makes as if He would go further," without doubt, according to His humanity.
Lk. 24:29. But they constrained Him, saying: Stay with us, for the day is already declining toward evening. And He went in and stayed with them.
Lk. 24:30. And when He reclined at table with them, He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them.